Phoenix
by mysticalflute
Summary: Written for techno-sorcerer on tumblr in the summer mini exchange on Discord! In the aftermath of Gozaburo's death, Seto Kaiba works to build Kaiba Corp up from the ashes.


Seto Kaiba stared at the stacks of files in front of him. Kaiba Corp was his now, Gozaboro nothing more than a hole in the conference room window, temporarily boarded up with plywood.

He couldn't quite believe he'd actually won. He knew, of course, that all of this had been nothing more than a giant game of chess, but at the end of the day, Gozaburo Kaiba had been a ruthless, two-timing, snake. The fact that he had taken care of himself was a very, very small weight off of Seto's shoulders. After all, there had been no guarantee that Gozaburo would ever have stayed true to his word and allowed he and Mokuba to stay.

The heaviest burden would be rebuilding Kaiba Corp from the ground up. The documents he'd read on Gozaburo's military interests were making his stomach churn. They'd been given to him by an assistant, who had taken him deep into Kaiba Corp's underbelly once the Big Five had left of the building.

The assistant had been crying in relief when he'd confirmed things were changing.

Seto gave her a raise and made her his personal assistant for her cooperation and the semblance of a heart she had.

She'd cried harder then.

Seto let out a sigh, pulling one of the files to him and beginning to read.

October 25th, Egypt

Nesbit's new bomb was the envy of the battle today. The group we're working with killed 30 rebels today. A victory for one of my top men. Nesbit it pleased, and I gave him a hefty bonus for his ingenuity. The group was so pleased that they've requested more. Next week, we plan to begin testing on –

Seto couldn't keep reading, throwing the file to the ground in disgust. Rebels or not, 30 people were dead, and he knew thousands more he hadn't even read about yet. His stomach lurched at the thought of some of them being children. Or parents, leaving children alone without parents.

This couldn't go on.

Slamming a hand on the desk, he rose to his feet, pressing the button for his assistant.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Summon the press. I want them here in an hour… and those files you gave me? Burn them. And then burn the ashes. The new era of Kaiba Corp starts now."

The lights were blinding, but he remained firm as he stood at the podium, looking at the eager reporters with disdain.

"Today is the dawn of a new day for Kaiba Corporation. No longer will we be a company that associates with criminals and death. Today, I am pleased to announce that Kaiba Corporation will become a company on the forefront of technology, and that technology will be…" he flourished his hand, and Mokuba and his assistant pulled the sheet back from the table next to him, the 3D model of his holographic technology and Kaiba Land revealed. "Gaming technology."

He could hear the shock in the room as the reporters began to murmur, cameras flashing once again.

"Kaiba Corporation is determined to rebrand itself as a company that brings joy to people, not fear. I am positive that I will be able to lead this change with the same amount of determination that Gozaburo did before me," he concluded. There, he had to play the poor orphan card for sympathy after all. "You all will, of course, be invited to the next press conference, when I reveal my holographic projectors. Thank you all for your time."

Seto stepped back and bowed respectfully to the reporters, before turning to Mokuba and leading him from the room.

"Did you mean all that stuff you said, Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"Of course I did, Mokuba. You'll see, soon Kaiba Corp will bring joy to kid's faces, instead of fear," he replied, giving him a ghost of a smile. "And I promise, nothing bad will happen to us again."

"You mean, even Hobson won't hurt us anymore?"

Seto's fists clenched at the mention of the mutant-looking butler his stepfather had employed, and the things that had been done to him under his eye.

Hobson had been fired forty-five minutes after Gozaburo's death.

"Yes. Especially Hobson," he confirmed, squeezing Mokuba's shoulder with affection.

"But… what am I gonna do for tutoring?"

Seto paused at the question, brow furrowing. He'd fired anyone associated with Gozaburo Kaiba that hadn't willingly joined his side, and that had included the tutors that Mokuba had been learning under.

And then he remembered his assistant eagerly chattering away about her son's school. He was Mokuba's age… and freedom was all Seto had wanted for he and his brother…

"Mokuba, how would you like to go to school? A real school?"

His brother's eyes told him all he needed to know, and immediately, he found himself researching the best schools in Domino, making sure they had very little in terms of problematic staff members or students, and while he was enrolling Mokuba, he enrolled himself too. Yes, he was a teenage genius, and had completed his studies at the age of 14, but he had a sick satisfaction of knowing this would be something that would make Gozaburo spin in his grave, so why not?

And so, he found himself sitting in the back of a classroom, toward the end of a lesson. It was a dry math lesson, with equations and formulas he'd been able to solve when he was twelve, but at least there was no one whacking a stick in front of him if he found himself doodling numbers for what he wanted Kaiba Corp's first line of gaming tech to be. He was so engrossed in this that he didn't realize the lesson had ended until someone tapped his shoulder.

He lifted his eyes just enough to see a short, spiky-haired teen standing in front of him.

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but school is over for the day. You seemed so engrossed in what you were doing and I didn't want you to miss your ride so – "

"Thank you," he said briskly, pushing his work into the bag at his side and rising to his feet. Giving the other student a curt nod, he turned and started making his way to the door, when he heard the other's eager footsteps behind him.

"Sorry again but I just wanted to let you know that I saw your press conference the other day, about making Kaiba Corp a gaming company and I'm – I'm really excited to see what you have to offer! My grandpa runs a card shop and so I've been into games and stuff my whole life! And what you had next to you at the conference seems really cool!"

His brow quirked in curiosity at the shorter teen. "A card shop? Like for Duel Monsters?"

"Yeah!"

A small smirk formed on his face. "Well then… I'll be sure that your grandfather's shop is one of the first to get any technology that we develop." Yes, it was a small, presumably independent shop that would hardly make a blip in their sales, but it was a stepping stone.

"Okay! That sounds awesome! I have to go meet my grandpa now but maybe we can talk more tomorrow?"

He had no inclination to do that, but he nodded slightly in agreement, turning away as he saw the Kaiba Corp car pulling up.

"Did you have a good first day, Mr. Kaiba?" he assistant asked with a polite smile, though her eyes were hiding something more.

"It was uneventful," he said with a shrug. "What did I miss?"

"Maximillion Pegasus called. He wants to speak with you about arranging a partnership with Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp!" she said with a wide smile.

Kaiba allowed a brief moment of shock to pass on his face before he spoke. "Call him back and tell him my schedule. I would like to meet with him as soon as possible," he said, looking out the window and smirking.

What was a terrible idea now, Gozaburo?

Just like the mythical phoenix, Kaiba Corp would rise from the ashes of its shameful past.


End file.
